Edo Assembly roof removed

Edo Assembly roof removed

Anxiety pervaded the vicinity of the Edo State House of Assembly on Friday as warring lawmakers in the House, policemen and hundreds of people watched as the roof covering the chambers of the Assembly, where the lawmakers sit, was removed.

One of the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers in the House, Mrs Elizabeth Ativie, shouted the name of a politician who she said brought policemen to the complex, adding that renovation works were ongoing at the complex and that policemen were the strangers in their midst.

However, Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr Foluso Adebanjo, said he moved his men to the scene following reports he got that some thugs were mobilising to stop the renovation, works while some other thugs were preparing to stop them.

It would be recalled that the faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) numbering 15 had on Wednesday moved their sitting from the assembly complex to the old executive council chambers in the Government House after a stalemate that followed the suspension of four lawmakers in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The APC faction at the Wednesday plenary dropped the hint that the assembly complex was undergoing renovation and that they would henceforth use the executive council chambers of the Government House until the completion of the renovation.

However, the suspended deputy speaker of the House, Mr Festus Ibea, who spoke with journalists at the assembly complex while the roofs were being removed, described the act as excessive brigandage.

He said: “The roof they are removing was done last year and we don’t have it in our budget for 2014. I am the chairman of the tenders board, nobody ever told me that we will be doing renovation work.

“You must know that this is brigandage, outright burglary and waste of taxpayers money. We are calling on every citizen of Edo State to know that all these things are being done to prevent us from having a sitting on Monday.

“We were on vacation for two to three weeks before we came back on the 9th (June) when the crisis began but no repair was done during that time. Very soon, we will be going on break again, why don’t you wait till that time; why now? These are the issues,” he said.